When I was in third grade, I remember I had a book of short stories that I'm almost certain was named "A Rainbow in My Pocket" because that was one of the stories. I can not find this book anywhere, but I would buy it in a heartbeat if I could.

It had a story about the princess with the shrieking hair that only quieted when she played piano because she was cursed. She was cursed because she had been naughty and cut her cat's whiskers as a child and he cursed her that it would only stop when the whiskers grew back.

It had a story about a boy who turned into glass for cursing too much.

A story about a monster in paintings that I remember used to scare me because of the picture that accompanied it!

I have a bookmark that I kept with the book and it's all faded and wrinkled now. I still have the bookmark, but not the book. I wish I did. I loved that book. I read it over and over and over again. My parents couldn't understand why.

I can't believe that over twenty years later I still remember those stories! XD

I think the book is translated to "The crazies". In Norwegian it's directly translated to "The crazy house" It's written by Karin Fossum, and I have read it four times and studied it in depth once. I don't know why I like this novel so much, there isn't really anything special about it. It is about a teenager called Hajna, who throws herself through a window and ends up in a mental institution. It reminds me a lot of the film "Girl, Interrupted", in the way that it's all about the life inside a mental hospital in the 1970's. It could be all the other crazy people we get to know in the book, or how Hajna copes with the life inside those walls.

I've read the Narnia books probably eight times. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase seven or eight times. Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit maybe four times. And the little House books and The Hiding Place probably three times. Some of these, you read over when you become a parent because you have to share them with your kids.

For me, the book with the greatest number of re-reads is The Hobbit. I think I've reread it five or more times. It's just so fun and easy to get into, and whenever I finish I want to start reading it again.

After that is Little Women, and The Last Unicorn. The latter is my favorite book and closest to my bed, so whenever I can't sleep, I'll flip open to a random page and start reading. It's the kind of book where you can start reading from anywhere and still enjoy it.

As an adult I've read Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje several times because of its sensuality and darkness and also his collection of poems There's a Trick With a Knife I'm Learning to Do. Even the title is amazing! I want to reread Henry Miller's Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronmous Bosch, but someone borrowed it and didn't return it (must remember to keep a record of who I lend what to!) And the real bummer is it was from the Henry Miller Library and Museum in BIG SUR!! bummer....

I'm actually not a re-reader, unless you can call someone who has re-read one book a re-reader. The book I've read the most number of times is Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier. I only read it two times, though.